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Rangdan Xenocides
The Rangdan Xenocides were a series of extermination campaigns waged by Imperial forces against the pernicious Rangdan xenos. Beginning in the 860s, these raged for approximately three decades until the threat was apparently stymied with the Battle of Cirongul, but the Rangdan were merely dormant. The Fourth Xenocide saw the nightmare renewed and raged with the greatest intensity of all, until the last of the Rangdan were put to the sword. History When the growing Imperium's Expeditionary Fleets entered the Eastern Fringe of the Galaxy, they unwittingly drew the attention of the Rangdan Cerabvores, a species whose military power made them a truly existential threat to the Imperium. The resulting wars were among the most terrible yet fought by the Imperium, rivalled only by the likes of the Qarith Crusade and Vremalkyr Incursions. Their losses, however, were unparalleled and would not be exceeded until the dreadful years of the Icarion Insurrection. Waves of attacks from the Galactic north and east saw worlds burned, Expeditionary Fleets swallowed up without a single survivor and dozens of Titan Legions were wiped out. Several Space Marine Legions participated at one time or another and took grievous losses, though the exact extent of these Legions and even which ones fought is heavily redacted. It is known that in the First and Second Xenocides, the Iron Bears and Crimson Lions played a key role in halting the enemy and driving them back, though the Bears' own home realm of Tricendia was threatened in these wars. The Apostles of War and Eagle Warriors led the counterattack in the Third Xenocide, with tens of thousands of Space Marines and billions of other troops sacrificed to shield the northern Imperium. In the wake of this conflict, the Randgan threat dwindled seemingly to nothing. But the threat was not yet purged from the stars, despite the bio-pogroms carried out by a handful of Legions (though here too, not all the Legions' identities are known). The Rangdan withdrew beyond sight of the Imperium and rebuilt their power over decades, waiting for the chance to strike back. It was half a century until the resurgence came, but come it did. In the early 940s panicked transmissions from a handful of frontier worlds gave way to an offensive whose fury was greater than any seen before. Had the Imperium itself not grown stronger in the interim, it has been posited that the attack may have been impossible to overcome. Even powerful Forge Worlds such as Vullad fell beneath the grey horde's onslaught. To extirpate the Rangdan once and for all, the Emperor unleashed the Primarchs who would become known as His "Four Horsemen": Raktra Akarro, Yucahu Sumakutaa, Andezo Sambedi and Sorrowsworn Morro. This quartet led their Legions into the inferno, matching and exceeding the aggression and mordant power of the Rangdan. Ultimately the Berserkers of Uran broke the Labyrinth of Night and in doing so shattered the species' might. What remained now was the epilogue of bio-pogroms in which the Berserkers and the Drowned culled entire sectors, leaving them bare of life to seal the Imperium's victory. Legacy The Xenocides profoundly affected all the Legions which participated, except perhaps for the Predators. The ways in which these effects manifested, however, would vary wildly from Legion to Legion. For the Apostles of War the Third Xenocide was their crowning victory, hard-won as it was, but one that stoked an already overweening pride. Therefore it can be argued that their triumph in this campaign set them on the path to Batu and disaster. For the Four Horsemen and their Legions, the Fourth Xenocide was a vindication to varying degrees of their methods and worldview. The Berserkers most of all found an echo of their bleak philosophy in the existential savagery of the conflict, and they took many broken Imperial forces under their banner during this time and refashioned them. Chief among these were the remaining Knights of House Lorthryk, plucked from the ashes of Vamast and given a place among the armies of the Ashen King. The Xenocides, especially the fourth and final chapter, had subtler but still huge ramifications for the Legions who did not take part of them, or played only a small role. While each of them fought massive and costly campaigns during the time of the early Xenocides, none sustained losses as severe nor were their reputations sullied by the desperate needs which the conflict warranted. For while the Bears, Lions and Fire Keepers cemented their heroes' repute, suspicion dogged those called upon to carry out the culls after the Third Xenocide was deemed complete. Therefore in the Imperial consciousness, it was in Icarion and the other Primarchs who been occupied elsewhere that hopes for the future rested. Beyond the Legions, the effects ran further still and indeed, due to the restrictions that remain on information about these terrible wars, can never be fully known. Whole sectors were now scoured clean of life, necessitating massive programs of colonisation on those worlds deemed worth repopulating. The Mechanicum suffered along with other Imperial factors, with the Fourth Xenocide along seeing the losses of Vullad and Vamast. Iyacrax, conversely, grew stronger as resources meant for those worlds were now funnelled into its forges. Category:Great Crusade Category:Imperial Campaigns Category:R